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(No Model.)

A. A. GARDNER & J. B. NICHOLS.

BOOT JACK. I 310.250.655. Patented Dec. 13,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERTUS A. GARDNER, OF MERMENTON, LOUISIANA, AND JAMES B.

' NICHOLS, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

BOOT-JACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,655, dated December 13, 1881.

Application filed May 25, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ALBERTUS A. GARD- NER, of Mermenton, St. Landry parish, in the State of Louisiana, and JAMES B. NICHOLS, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented an Improvement in Boot-Jacks,ot' which the followingis aspecification.

The nature of this invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction of that class of implements designed to assist in drawing boots and shoes from the foot; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction of parts, whereby such implement is made adjustable to grasp various sizes of heels, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section through the center of our improved boot-jack. Fig. 2 is a top plan. Fig. 3 isa cross-section on the line a; w in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a modification showing a different method of adjusting the heel-gripe. Fig. 5 is a section on line y y in Fig. 4.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a bed-plate, of any desired form or ornamentation, made of wood or metal, as preferred, and provided near its front end with a strap and buckle, B, which is designed, when the implement is in use, to engage with and over the toe of boot G. Upon the top of this bedplate is secured the removable jaw 0r heelrest D, the front edge of which may be slightly serrated. A rod, actuated by a thumb-screw, E, at the heel of the device, and threaded near its front end, engages in a suitable nut, F, in the heelrest D, and by this means the heelrest is retracted or projected, as may be desired, to adapt the implement to operate equally well upon a smaller or larger heel.

Pivoted within the slot H in the bed plate is the lever G, and the rear end of this lever is serrated to engage with the front of the heel,

being actuated thereto by the spring I whenever, the heel being in place, the operator places his other foot upon the bed-plate in rear of the boot 0, which has to be withdrawn. The pressure thus brought to bear raises the lower projecting end of the lever, and compels it to impinge against the heel of the boot, which is thereby firmly grasped between the lever and the jaw, and allows the foot to be easily withdrawn.

We do not desire to confine ourselves to the method of adj ustin gthe heel-jaw which we have described, as the same result can be obtained by the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5, or in various other ways.

What we claim as our invention is l. A boot-jack consisting of a bed-plate, A, having a toe strap, B, and provided with a pivoted jaw or lever, G, and an adjustable jaw, D, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In combination, the bed-plate A, heelrest D, adjustable as described, lever G, and spring I, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The bed plate A, provided with guides for receiving an adjustable jaw, D, and a recess, H, for receiving a pivoted jaw, G, in combin ation with the two jaws D and G, a spring, I, operating against the pivoted jaw, and a toe-strap, B, substantially as and for the purpose described.

ALBER'IUS A. GARDNER. JAMES B. NICHOLS.

Witnesses as to the signature of Albertus A. Gardner:

W. P. GARDNER, J OSEPH. VALDETERO. Witnesses as to the signature of James B. Nichols:

H. S. SPRAGUE, E. SoULLY. 

